Tour Includes Innovative Home Concepts

Life in a hilltop castle has its advantages and its drawbridges … er, drawbacks.

On the positive side, you never have to give complicated directions to pizza delivery drivers.

But Halloween can be exhausting when practically the whole town shows up to trick-or-treat.

Welcome to Cadbury Castle, the fanciful home of the Rych family - physician David Rych, his wife, junior-high history teacher April Weber; and daughter Adrianne.

Finished just last summer, the 5,500-square-foot residence has quickly become a local landmark, thanks to its distinctive turrets, rampart, gargoyles and “finials” - metal ornaments atop the home’s four octagonal towers.

Strangers frequently arrive uninvited, hoping (in vain) for a peek inside.

But Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m., the Rychs will swing open their massive wooden front doors and allow visitors to explore the home’s unique interior, complete with spiral stairway and secret rooms, David’s sword collection, and a dragonshaped sofa.

The occasion is Palouse Habitat for Humanity’s third annual hometour fund raiser. Five private residences - two in Moscow, three in Pullman - will be open for selfguided walk-throughs. Admission is $10, $5 for students and children. All receipts will go toward providing low-income housing in the Palouse.

Besides the Rychs’ castle, the tour includes:

Washington State University faculty member Sarah Recken’s award-winning combination home and neighborhood fitness center at SE760 South in Pullman.

Retired University of Idaho biologist Fred Rabe’s residence at 1715 Appaloosa Road in Moscow, with its indoor pond and native landscaping.

Ron and Diane See’s house bordering Pullman’s Lawson Gardens at SE765 Glenwood Court, with exercise pool and hot tub.

The Habitat for Humanity home of Daniel and Stacey Luman and their three children, at 675 Stadium Way.

The Rychs’ castle, dubbed Cadbury after the English site where archaeologists believe King Arthur’s Camelot once stood, was conceived on David’s computer screen.

“I experimented with a circle, but couldn’t get the rooms to work out,” explains Rych, who practices family medicine in Moscow. “A rectangle worked well, but it looked pretty boring. I’ve always liked fantasy art, and that gave me the idea of putting a tower on each corner.”

Rych turned his floor plans over to contractor Randy Humble, who translated them into formal drawings. Many of the exterior details - the stonework, rampart and copper roofing - were suggested by workers during construction.

Still to come are heavy chains to give the garage and driveway a drawbridge look. Alas, the home’s sloping site precludes the feature most frequently recommended by visitors: a moat.

Predictably, the castle is immensely popular with youngsters. “But a fair amount of adults think it’s pretty weird,” admits Rych.

He says local bankers refused to loan him as much as they would have for a conventional home of similar size.

Maybe the bankers were worried about resale, but Rych insists he isn’t. “In fact,” he says, “a 5-year-old friend has already said, very seriously, ‘Now remember, when you go to sell this, you offer it to me first!”’

Like the Rych family, WSU architecture department member Sarah Recken lives in a home that inspires strong reactions, both pro and con.

Her 5,400-square-foot “research project” includes an indoor swimming pool, racketball court, mini-gym and guest quarters.

“If people would look seriously at how little their house is used and consider how its space could be put to better advantage,” Recken says, “there would surely be some changes in their vision of what a home should look like.”

Critics question how well the 104-foot-long corrugated steel structure fits into its neighborhood setting.

Recken chose the industriallooking siding because of its inexpensive cost, low maintenance and energy efficiency.

She also salvaged glass block, light fixtures and entry doors from a local department store, and surplus blackboard slate and maple flooring from WSU.

“People are confused because this doesn’t look like a house,” Recken says.

“People want houses to look like something their children might draw.”

Like a castle, perhaps?